The following is from a letter I wrote recently to my yDNA research group.


Copyright, 2008 John J. Browne Ayes

I have made an interesting discovery while looking for our Sephardim connections.

If you will remember, Betty Hubbard sent me a URL link to me that led to a book on Google that shared the possibility of Converso connections within the de Silva family tree by way of the Fonseca.

After reading that online book and seeing the family trees that were within it I decided to do some hard research to confirm what I had read. As a result I also got the surprise of my life in regard to the results of my mtDNA test, Haplo Group C.

That Haplo Group C that my mother passed down to me might come from another branch of Indians that weren't Taino.

In researching the verity of the contents of that online book, this is what I have found within PARES, Ministry of Culture of Spain: see below this text for family tree.

A little history:

In the beginning, after the conquest of Mexico, because of revolts that were initiated by descendants of the Cacique, Moctezuma, some of that family were exiled to various parts of Tierra Firma out of Mexico. Some of the descendants of Moctezuma were married by leaders of the conquest after they had received titles from the crown of Spain. Some of those entitled Moctezuma went off to live in Spain. Their descendants in turn learned the ins and outs of the mayorazgo system of the day and married into some powerful Casas in Spain.

Now, I have become confused because I also have hints of Taino bloodline connections within the marriage of Ponce de Leon and other conquistadors in Puerto Rico to Taino women. How do I differentiate the possibility of carring the mtDNA of two distinct Indian groups? Are they in fact distinct? Or are they all part of the same family?

In any case, I also found some very dissapointing bits of factoid about the Moctezuma who lived in Spain.

They had become so very much like the Spaniard conquistador. They had set up enconomiendas in Guatemala and other places, the documents I found in PARES Minsitry of Culture - Spain revealed that dark fact. I call it dark because now we have descendants of Indians living in Spain exploiting their own in Mexico who were enslaved in those enconomiendas.

That's sad...and depressing.

Ayes.

Source for family tree:

Documents within ES.41168.SNAHN/1.10.1
YELTES.


Descendants of :
Ruy de Pina


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Generation 1

1. Ruy de Pina.

Children of Ruy de Pina:
i. 2. Adriana de Pina


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Generation 2

2. Adriana de Pina. She married Felix Nieto de Silva.

Children of Adriana de Pina and Felix Nieto de Silva:
i. 3. Luis Nieto de Silva


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Generation 3

3. Luis Nieto de Silva. He married Maria Magdalena de Fonseca Ruiz, daughter of Fernando de Fonseca.

Children of Luis Nieto de Silva and Maria Magdalena de Fonseca Ruiz:
i. Luis Nieto de Silva
ii. 4. Fernando Nieto de Silva


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Generation 4

4. Fernando Nieto de Silva. He married Maria Manuela de Guzman.

Children of Fernando Nieto de Silva and Maria Manuela de Guzman:
i. 5. Maria Isabel Nieto de Silva
ii. Jose Nieto de Silva


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Generation 5

5. Maria Isabel Nieto de Silva. She married Francisco Moctezuma Torres Carvajal..

Children of Maria Isabel Nieto de Silva and Francisco Moctezuma Torres Carvajal.:
i. 6. Vicente Moctezuma Nieto de Silva
ii. 7. Manuela Moctezuma


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Generation 6

6. Vicente Moctezuma Nieto de Silva.

Children of Vicente Moctezuma Nieto de Silva:
i. 8. Juan Vera

7. Manuela Moctezuma. She married Francisco Ventura Moctezuma.

Children of Manuela Moctezuma and Francisco Ventura Moctezuma:
i. Manuel Vicente de Aguilera Moctezuma


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Generation 7

8. Juan Vera. He married Vicenta Varona Bargas.